Dairy cow and cattle farming: Cowshed cleaning and disinfection

With professional cleaning equipment, suitable cleaning agents and the right approach, hygienic results can be achieved in cattle farming and on dairy farms - without the time needed and labour costs getting out of hand.

Cowshed cleaning in dairy cow and cattle farming with tips from Kärcher

Protecting the health and well-being of animals as well as increasing profits. These are the aims of cowshed cleaning in dairy and cattle farming. In addition to hygiene in milking parlours and calving pens, it is also important to efficiently clean the cowsheds, i.e. the areas where the animals spend most of their lives. This includes pens and outdoor areas for both growing and adult animals..

Why is cowshed cleaning so important in dairy and cattle farming?

Efficient cowshed cleaning reduces germs and lowers the risk of diseases. This is crucial for the welfare of the animals, but also for the farm’s profits. After all, healthy animals provide a better produce. In addition, they’ll need a vet visit less often and less medication.

Cowshed cleaning in cattle and dairy farms

When is it time to clean a cowshed?

Some elements of cowshed cleaning need to be done several times a day, others only as needed or when the opportunity arises.

Twice a day before feeding, the feeding equipment is cleaned.
Walkways are swept daily.
If cows are kept on straw - in some older barns and often also in the outside areas - mucking out needs to be regular.
The time for thorough cowshed cleaning (deep cleaning) in cattle and dairy farming tends to happen when rehousing the animals from pen to pen:
From the age of two to eight weeks, cows are kept in groups in pens. The size of these pens depends on the space required, which in turn depends on the age of the animals in a group.
When the oldest group leaves and their pen becomes vacant, the other groups each move up to the next largest pen. This rehousing then offers the opportunity to clean the pens.
Between rehousing, a pen can be cleaned completely or partially as needed, for example, to allow for repairs. For this, however, the pen needs to be completely empty.

Equipment and cleaning products for cowshed hygiene

Even today, brooms and shovels are still used to clean cowsheds in cattle and dairy farming. If a sweeper and a high-pressure cleaner are also available, the farm is fully equipped for all cleaning tasks.

High pressure cleaner: either cold or hot water

Pressure cleaners significantly increase the efficiency of cowshed cleaning and therefore reduce labour costs. Most farms use mobile pressure cleaners in the barns and a stationary pressure cleaners in the milking area.

Hot water pressure cleaners are the most efficient. This is because the hot water has a high dirt dissolving power, removes germs effectively and shortens both the cleaning and the drying time.

Cowshed cleaning with a pressure cleaner

Advantages of hot water high-pressure cleaners

Cleaning with hot water: High-pressure cleaners clean even better at a constant pressure. Alongside improved results and faster cleaning and drying times, hot water high-pressure cleaners also have a measurable germ-reducing effect. When the steam stage is used, even delicate surfaces can be gently cleaned with temperatures of up to 155 °C. Furthermore, the machines allow for a reduction in the working pressure, the time required and the volume of cleaning agent that is used. This means that cleaning with hot water offers a number of advantages and various possibilities for optimising the cleaning process.

Learn more

Cleaning and soaking agents

Alkaline solutions are the better cleaning agents for cowshed cleaning in dairy and cattle husbandry. This is because they dissolve faeces, protein and fat effectively. Especially when cleaning with cold water pressure cleaners, the right cleaning agents improve the working time significantly.

In addition, soaking agents are also available that are specifically designed to loosen dried-on dirt - such as faecal debris in the pens or on their partitions - before cleaning with a pressure cleaner. Soaking reduces cleaning time and water consumption.

The cleaning agents should ideally be matched to the equipment used in order to achieve an optimal cleaning outcome.

Sweepers

In modern farms, sweepers also contribute to the rapid and thorough cowshed cleaning, including outdoor areas. Sweepers kick up less dust than brooms and cover a larger area in less time, and that with less physical strain on the operator. A walk-behind sweeper with side broom is even more efficient as this machine can sweep corners as well.

Wet/dry vacuum cleaners

A useful addition to cowshed hygiene in cattle and dairy farming is a wet and dry vacuum cleaner. These remove dust and dirt from surfaces that are difficult to reach with a broom. An additional advantage is that no dust is kicked up, which is better for the lungs.

Cowshed cleaning with a wet/dry vacuum cleaner

How to clean a cowshed

Daily tasks

Before each feeding, any food remains need to be removed because these can spoil (especially in warm temperatures), moreover, flies could settle. Sweepers support and accelerate here the manual cleaning with the broom. If the animals have defecated on the feed tables, shovel and broom are used.

Food leftovers and faeces can also accumulate in drink dispensers. Therefore, they should be checked at every feeding and, if necessary, flooded and cleaned with water from the drinker.

In order to remove possible breeding sites for flies, dung must be removed regularly with a shovel.

Walkways are swept with a broom or sweeper.

The ground outdoors is cleaned with a broom or sweeper after feeding in the places where the feed has been distributed.

Deep cleaning as needed

For each deep cowshed cleaning, including the compartments (pens), the animals must have left the area - especially in cattle farming - otherwise the work would be too dangerous for the staff. This also applies to outside compartments.

In cattle and dairy farming, deep cowshed cleaning - with the exception of feedlot rearing - is usually not carried out by clearing out a whole pen, but doing it pen by pen, while there are still animals in the other compartments.

Caution and consideration are the top priority. To avoid creating a clumsy environment, the pressure cleaner should not be placed directly in the cowshed. It is better to work with a long pressure hose. This minimises the noise in the cowshed.

A high-pressure hose on an automatic hose reel with automatic return is recommended. This reduces the risk of tripping. A surface cleaner is recommended for cleaning larger floor areas. This prevents splashing - which means less disturbance for the animals.

Task order during deep cowshed cleaning

Sweep walls and barriers
Dust creates breeding grounds for germs and fungi and can lead not only to diseases in the animals in the barn, but also to respiratory diseases in humans. Therefore, cobwebs and dust on walls and ceilings are swept off first, and in the case of warm barns, the windows and window reveals are swept off as well
.Rough cleaning of the pens
When the pens are empty, the first step is to remove the rough debris, that is, everything that has not been trodden into the crevices in the floor, with a broom and shovel. Mucking out is done in cowsheds with bedding. This is most efficiently done with a farm tractor
Dampen the cowshed
Now thoroughly dampen the dirt, including on the walls if necessary. A pressure cleaner is suitable for this. A soaking agent can be added to the water, which dissolves dried excrement and reduces cleaning time and water consumption.The dirt should absorb the water as much as possible. It is not a good idea to apply the water with too high a pressure, and also not too much at once. This would cause large drops to run off the dirt rather than soaking it. If necessary, the process should be repeated until the dirt is soaked through.
Cleaning with the pressure cleaner
This is followed by thorough cleaning of the partitions, walls and floor with a pressure cleaner. Alkaline cleaning agents can be applied with a backpack sprayer or a cup foam lance. The cup foam lance has the advantage that it can be easily connected to the lance of the pressure cleaner. It also delivers a particularly thick, adhesive foam with a powerful cleaning effect. The foam is then rinsed off again.The water drains off through the slats. In barns without slatted floors, it is recommended to use a surface cleaner with automatic suction, which collects the dirty water and drains it off in a controlled manner. It is connected to the high-pressure cleaner.To clean sensitive components, it is useful to reduce the pressure of the pressure cleaner. This is most convenient if the gun has a pressure setting. Very sensitive parts need to be cleaned with a damp cloth. Cleaning is complete when the surface of the floor, walls and barriers is clean again and the wastewater runs clear.
Disinfect as required
The pens for young calves who arrive fresh from their calf hutch into group housing should be disinfected after being cleaned with a pressure cleaner. For this, the pens need to be completely dry.

Specialised cleaning requirements: calving and isolation pens as well as calf huts and milking parlours

Some areas in cattle and dairy farming require special attention for cleaning to best protect both human and animal health.

These include calving and isolation pens for sick animals. These should be as sterile as possible before a calving cow or a sick animal enters. The sensitive calves make for high demands on biosecurity. Therefore, after rough cleaning with a broom, calving pens should ideally be cleaned with a hot water pressure cleaner. Under certain circumstances, the use of disinfectants is also recommended in this form of animal husbandry.

Cleaning calf hutches

Hygiene is an essential part of biosecurity in dairy and beef farming. The correct cleaning processes play an important role around the birth and keeping of calves - from the calving pens to the calf hutches, and then the calf pens.

Learn more

The milking area also requires special consideration when cleaning in cattle and dairy farming. This is because the safety standards of human food is affected in this area.

Milking parlour cleaning

The cow herd will walk through the milking parlour every day. A lot of dirt is left behind in this process - manure, protein and fat residues as well as milk residues, limescale and urine deposits. Regular cleaning is therefore essential. The right cleaning equipment is crucial for cleanliness in the milk store and at the milk tank in order to ensure the right hygiene requirements are met along the entire production chain.

Learn more

Don’t forget to clean around the cowshed

The environment around the cowshed also has an influence on biosecurity. Therefore, the area around the barn, the walkways, the yard area and especially the area in front of silos and feed stores should be swept regularly so that rodents and other disease vectors don’t find their food there.

Feed carts should be completely emptied after each feeding to prevent mould from forming and flies from settling there. In addition, feed carts should be cleaned every few weeks with a pressure cleanercleaner.

Water barrels and feed troughs in the pasture must also be kept clean. A battery-powered pressure cleaner is suitable for this purpose.

If equipment and machines are used in lots of different barns, these should also be cleaned to prevent cross-contamination. Simple implements such as brooms and shovels are best kept within one cowshed environment. Silos and machinery used on the farm must also be cleaned regularly. Cowshed cleaning in dairy and cattle farming is completed by cleaning the outside areas and equipment.

Cleaning agricultural machinery

Value retention is a major issue when it comes to high investments made on farming machinery. The operational readiness of the tractor, fertiliser spreader or harvesting machine is also central, because they have to function seamlessly for certain types of work in short time windows that the seasons and legislation dictate. Employee protection and occupational safety are equally important. Those who clean and maintain agricultural machinery professionally ensure that they remain in use for a long time and avoid costs for breakdowns and repairs.

Learn more